Newsletter

Special Easter programs fill weekend TV schedules

Offerings include finale of 'The Bible' miniseries on History

Jesus (Diogo Morgado) carries his cross to Golgotha in "The Passion," the ninth hour of the miniseries "The Bible," which will be shown back-to-back Sunday evening with the finale, "Courage," on the cable television channel History.

Jesus (Diogo Morgado) carries his cross to Golgotha in "The Passion," the ninth hour of the miniseries "The Bible," which will be shown back-to-back Sunday evening with the finale, "Courage," on the cable television channel History.

In the television miniseries "The Bible," which concludes Sunday night on the cable television network History, the resurrected Jesus (Diogo Morgado) appears to John the Apostle on Patmos.

ReelzChannel will will show at 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday and 3 and 11 p.m. Sunday its two-part, four-and-a-half-hour miniseries "Barabbas" starring Billy Zane in the title role.

TBN, the Trinity Broadcasting Network, will show at 10:30 a.m. Friday, 4:30 and 10 p.m. Saturday and 9 p.m. Sunday Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ," the 2003 movie which stars Jim Caviezel as Jesus.

With hardly any concert halls or theaters willing to compete for an audience with Holy Week services, this weekend offers a paschal paucity of performances. However, television fills the entertainment gap with an abundance of Easter-related programming, including the final two hours of “The Bible” miniseries.

More than 10 million viewers tuned in to the History channel for each of the first four episodes of “The Bible,” which was conceived and produced by the husband-wife duo of Mark Burnett, creator of “Survivor,” and Roma Downey, star of “Touched by an Angel.”

The series finale, which Cox cable subscribers in Topeka can view from 7 to 9 p.m. Sunday on channel 49 or HD channel 2049, will include the crucifixion, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus, as well as his appearances before Saul of Tarsus, who becomes the great apostle Paul, and before the disciple John, who was given apocalyptic insight.

Anyone who wants to see “The Bible” in its entirety from Genesis to Revelation can do so beginning at 11 a.m. Sunday.

As good as “The Bible” has been in television ratings, it pales in comparison to the box office success of the Mel Gibson-produced 2004 epic “The Passion of the Christ,” which the Trinity Broadcasting Network will show at 4:30 and 10 p.m. Saturday and 9 p.m. Sunday. Cox subscribers can find TBN on channel 151.

Two New Testament-inspired television miniseries from 1999 will be shown back-to-back Friday on the Gospel Music Channel (channel 213 on Cox): “Jesus” at 7 p.m. and “Mary, Mother of Jesus” at 11 p.m.

“Jesus” stars Jeremy Sisto in the title role, with Debra Messing as Mary Magdalene, Jacqueline Bisset as Mary and Gary Oldman as Pontius Pilate. Kevin Costner directed “Mary, Mother of Jesus,” which starred Christian Bale as Jesus of Nazareth and Pernilla August as his mother.

GMC TV’s Easter weekend offerings also include the world premiere of “The Carpenter’s Miracle” at 6, 8 and 10 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Adapted for Easter from Judd Perkin’s Christmas-themed novel, the movie tells the tale of a humble small-town handyman, Josh Carey (Cameron Mathison), who attempts to resuscitate 12-year-old Luke Quinn (Ryan Grantham), the victim of a drowning accident.

When the boy shows no sings of life for an hour, Josh consoles Luke’s mother, Sarah (Michelle Harrison), in the emergency room, but when he lightly touches the boy with his hand offering an heavenward wish, Luke is suddenly revived.

Although ReelzChannel isn’t on the Cox cable lineup, DISH, DirecTV, and AT&T U-verse subscribers can on channels 299, 238 and 799 / 1799, respectively, watch Billy Zane as “Barabbas” at 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday and 3 and 11 p.m. Sunday. The two-part, four-and-a-half-hour film is adapted from the same-titled novel written in 1950 by Nobel Prize-winning author Par Lagerkvist, who imagines what happened to the biblical character after the crowds demanded Pontius Pilate free him instead of Jesus.

Those who prefer Anthony Quinn as Barabbas can watch the 1962 movie at 3:30 a.m. Sunday and 4 p.m. Monday on TBN.

Television viewers also will have their choice of Ben Hurs. Joseph Morgan stars as the title character in the television miniseries “Ben Hur,” which first aired in the United States in 2010 on ABC. Ovation will broadcast the three-hour film at noon Saturday and 7 p.m. Sunday. Ovation is channel 274 on DirecTV and channel 291 on DISH; neither Cox nor AT&T U-verse carry the network in Topeka.

The 1959 movie “Ben-Hur,” with Charlton Heston as the Jewish prince turned revenging charioteer, will be shown at 6:30 a.m. Sunday as part of the Easter lineup on Turner Classic Movies (Cox channels 54 and 2054), which includes the 1961 epic “King of Kings” at 10:30 a.m.; “The Greatest Story Ever Told” at 1:30 p.m.; “Easter Parade,” the 1948 musical starring Judy Garland and Fred Astaire, at 5 p.m.; “The Robe,” with Richard Burton, Jean Simmons and Victor Mature, at 7 p.m; its sequel, “Demetrius and the Gladiators,” co-starring Mature and Susan Hayward, at 9:30 p.m.; and the silent 1927 Cecil B. DeMille-directed classic, “The King of Kings,” at 11:15 p.m.

Although it is an Old Testament tale, “The Ten Commandments” has become an Eastertide television tradition, and ABC will show the 1956, DeMille-directed classic starring Charlton Heston as Moses at 6 p.m. Saturday. It can be seen locally on KTKA which is digital channel 49 and channels 9 and 2009 on Cox. ABC also will show “It’s the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown,” the 1974 animated “Peanuts” holiday special, at 6 p.m. Sunday.

Another Holy Week television tradition will be EWTN telecasts of religious services from Vatican City, which this year will attract additional viewers curious about the recently installed leader of Roman Catholics worldwide, Pope Francis.

On Cox channel 153, viewers can watch the Celebration of the Lord’s Passion from St. Peter’s Basilica live at 11 a.m. Friday; the Way of the Cross from the Coliseum at 7:30 p.m. Friday; Easter Vigil Mass from St. Peter’s at 2:30 p.m. Saturday; the Solemn Mass of Easter Sunday from St. Peter’s Square at 3 a.m. Sunday; and the pope’s “Urbi et Orbi” (“to the City [of Rome] and to the World”) message and blessing at 5 a.m. Sunday. Go to www.ewtn.com for times and dates of rebroadcasts of these programs.